3 takeaways: Atlanta Braves ride the long ball in mashing of Phillies

The Atlanta Braves clobbered the Philadelphia Phillies and ended a two-game skid by getting back to what they seem to do best — hitting the long ball.

The postgame fireworks weren’t the only things exploding at SunTrust Park on Wednesday night, as the first-place Atlanta Braves rode their power barrage of three home runs – and some strong pitching from Bryse Wilson – to mash the Phillies by a final of 9-2.

The Braves (51-36) needed a performance like Wednesday’s to get them back on the right track, as the team had dropped their last two and were shutout by division rival Philadelphia the night before.

The big story of the night was the potent Atlanta offense, which accounted for 9 runs on 10 hits – eight of those nine runs scored came via home runs.

Both Josh Donaldson and Austin Riley provided the pop of the three-run variety, while Matt Joyce clubbed a two-run, pinch-hit shot of his own.

It was a highly impressive offensive explosion all around for the Bravos, however, with 6 of the team’s 10 hits going for extra bases.

Not to be overlooked was the strong work from starter Bryse Wilson, who had by far his best start of the season in Atlanta, keeping the Phillies at bay to just two runs in six innings of work.

The victory stretches the Atlanta Braves’ lead in the NL East back to 5.5 games, and the Braves will go for a series victory on Thursday when Mike Soroka takes the hill versus Zach Eflin.

Here are three of our biggest takeaways from Atlanta’s impressive clubbing of the Phillies.